Richard III drank a bottle of wine daily, study suggests

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Press Trust of India London
Last Updated : Aug 17 2014 | 5:10 PM IST
A study of the teeth and bones of Richard III, the last Yorkist King of England, show he drank up to a bottle of wine a day and feasted on exotic meat in the last years of his life.
The research by the British Geological Survey and University of Leicester found that the king who died at the age of 32 also ate exotic meat including swan, crane, heron and egret.
Samples were taken from a femur, rib and tooth after his remains were unearthed in Leicester in 2012.
His diet was "far richer" than other high-ranking people of the time, the BBC reported.
"We know he was banqueting a lot more, there was a lot of wine indicated at those banquets and tying all that together with the bone chemistry it looks like this feasting had quite an impact on his body in the last few years of his life," University of Leicester geochemist Angela Lamb said.
"Richard's diet when he was king was far richer than that of other equivalent high status individuals in the late medieval period."
The paper said analysis of the king's bones and teeth showed his drinking habits changed significantly around the time he became king in 1483.
It concluded during the last three years of his life he consumed about a bottle of wine a day.
The research also suggested he had moved out of eastern England by the age of seven, and lived further west - possibly in the Welsh Marches.
A re-interment service for the king will take place at Leicester Cathedral on March 26 next year following a week of events in Leicestershire.
Richard III, who reigned from 1483, was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in August 1485, but his grave was lost when the surrounding church was demolished.
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First Published: Aug 17 2014 | 5:10 PM IST

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